


A Xenobiological marvel

by TheNervousMedic



Category: Alien Series
Genre: Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Shorts, Tags Are Hard, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:41:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28140093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNervousMedic/pseuds/TheNervousMedic
Summary: A collection of short stories, lore snippets, and character moments surrounding the Daedalus project. A WeylandYutani funded facility dedicated to research and experimentation on Xenomorphs that inevitably fell to a single smart test subject and her hunger for knowledge.
Kudos: 1





	A Xenobiological marvel

**Author's Note:**

> A nervous marine struggles to ignore a message...

He couldn’t help but notice it. Over and over again. Every night shift was the same. A series of muffled noises. Tap tap tap tap… tap… tap scratch tap tap… tap scratch scratch tap…   
  


Something about it was unnerving. He knew roughly what lay in wait behind the doors he guarded every other night shift. Not that he was supposed to. Being a guard, a closing hours one at that, rendered you basically invisible to the busybodies that wandered the clean white halls. Nobody cares about some jar-head bug-hunting grunt with a pulse rifle. Maybe the scientists thought them stupid… maybe they just didn’t assume that any of the obedient little wallflowers would get curious.

There it was again… the same as every night. He tried to ignore it, to stand still and boredly fidget with his helmet strap, it had been gnawing at him for months. Only recently did it start sending uncomfortable cold chills down his spine.   
  
It took so long for him to recognise it. But now that he had the knowledge of what it was and what it meant an irreversible boundary had been crossed in his conscience.   
It was Morse. Morse code. 

.... . .-.. .--.

It said.

.... . .-.. .--.

Over and over.

.... . .-.. .--.

_ Help _ .

**.... . .-.. .--.**

_ Help! _ _   
_ _   
_ It was haunting and by no means an accident. Someone was pleading with him. Begging for attention. Screaming for acknowledgement. He knew of the experiments that went on in there. What those giant, obscured, viewing rooms held. There was a stinging in his eyes and a dryness in his throat. What if someone was stuck, or seriously injured. What if a fellow marine had been thrown to the wolves without anyone noticing.

It was too much.

He had to go see for himself.

  
Day and night were near indistinguishable from one another. If it weren’t for the clocks occasionally displayed on broadcasting monitors you could easily lose all semblance of time. The lights overhead blared and buzzed in a way that would never quite let you go numb to it. He waited until the remaining Scientists left their little toys to get some sleep… and slid inside.

Rows upon rows of blast-shielded enclosures, a select few with one-way viewing windows, lined the walls. Some not even rooms, just tall floor-to-ceiling tubes full of liquid. The figures writhing around inside them were restless; Their mouths opened to screech and hiss. Though, luckily for him, all the aggressive sounds were muffled to near-silence. Leaving gaping maws of razor teeth shouting vain as he snuck past.

Xenomorphs.

Vile and hateful monsters. A single drone could annihilate an unprepared or overzealous squadron of marines. He'd fought his fair share back in the day. Ventured into destroyed colonies of miners and overrun communities of settlement populators. They were ruthless. Cunning, well equipped, and damn near impossible to see in the dark. No wonder this place was lit up like a polar summer.

.... . .-.. .--.

There it was again. Just a little further into the lab. One of the seemingly infinite cages had what he was looking for. The acid guard on the window was shut, but pressing a hand to the wall confirmed what he had heard. It was coming from inside…

.... . .-.. .--. (Help)

His fingers brushed over the cold metal, debating what he was doing. Being in this room full of monsters was much different to just standing outside it. He knew first hand how easily they could tear him apart, dissolve his skin, shatter every bone in his body. Yet here they were. At the mercy of prying eyes and cruel testing. Is this what made the scientists such jackasses? The sense of control over something much stronger than yourself.   
  
Another message snapped his attention back to the wall, finally taking a breath and knocking back.

  
.. .----. -- / .... . .-. . (I’m here)

  
  
A long silence.    
Sweat beaded nervously at his temples, something he hadn't noticed until reflexively going to readjust his helmet as it started to feel tight.

-.-- --- ..- / .... . .- .-. (You hear…)   
  
“Yes. I can hear you…” He grizzled through gritted teeth, anxiously eyeing the entrance. “Can you hear me?”

-.-- . … (Yes)   
\- .-. .- .--. .--. . -.. (Trapped)   
.... . .-.. .--. (Help)   
  
“Right, right, uh-” A control panel sat undisturbed below the window frame, buttons and switches all without any labels, he hovered over them with uncertainty. “-what do I press.”

..-. .- .-. / .-. .. --. .... -    
  
“Far right…”   
  
.-.. . ..-. - / .-.. . ..-. - / .-.. . ..-. - / ..- .--.

“Left… left… left… up, the blue switch?”   
  
.--. ..- ... .... (Push)   
  
The lights flickered. Their incessant buzzing almost louder than before. He could hear a blaring alarm in his head, though he knew it was just his imagination it still forced his hand to shudder for a moment.

  
**_  
_ ** **_.--. ..- ... .... (Push)_ **

The Morse insisted, much less delicately communicated than before. A very distinct scraping of sharp claws against the wall churned knots in his stomach. He couldn’t rightfully justify his curiosity anymore. It wasn't concern for a fellow marine, or an unfortunate researcher, it was very obvious what was behind this closed window. The whole room was full of them, what made him think this single container would be any different...   
  


The button quietly bleeped.

Shields shuddered as they raised up. Rattling and sliding over one another like a heavily armoured garage door retreating onto the ceiling.

On the other side of the viewing window it sat. His eyes adjusting to the blaringly bright lights surrounding it. A smooth domed head reflected his face. Had there always been such dark bags under those tired eyes…

The creature looked at him with an invisible stare. An eyeless head, armed with needle-sharp teeth, managed to somehow display just as much uncertainty and confusion as he did. Strange unidentifiable markings decorated the back half of its crest, drawing his eyes away from the Xenomorphs featureless face.

.-- .... .. - . / -.-. --- .- - ..--.. (White coat?) It asked, breaking both of their stunned silence. The small spear-like barb that tipped its tail sending morse through the window.

"No. I'm no white-coat…"


End file.
